Pretty Invitation

My Sister over at The Scrapbook Cook sent me this pretty invitation this summer that I meant to share a while ago. I've blanked out their personal info so if the wording looks uneven or off center that is why. I think it is beautiful and creative.



Life: Simplified and a Princess Party

If you follow this blog at all you probably noticed I have not done a post in the past couple of months.  This fall came bringing new commitments and rearranging priorities.  I am now going to school every weekday morning and homeschooling Sweet Lily Girl.  So in order to keep up with everyday household, parenting and wifey type responsibilities I have streamlined my priorities.  Unfortunately this blog is not close enough to the top to make it into my day to day life. 

However today is the first day of my Thanksgiving break from school and while I still have a stack of books on my desk that need to be read I am allowing myself this time to do a few blog posts.  Yea!

**********************************************************************************
I will start with an update for that chandelier I posted about previously.  If you remember it was for the then upcoming now past princess party.  I really like how the whole party turned out.  My parents were able to come to town again for the girls' party again.  The party was back in October it was a perfectly beautiful day for 17 little ones to be running around our back yard.  Yes you read that right.  We had 15 little Princes and Princesses join our two little princesses.

Picture above & below taken by Danielle Huddleston 

Our youngest princess in attendance:

Puppet Masters

To go with our Fox Theater we made some princess puppets.  They are made from felt and little odds and ends most of which recently came in a box from my grandma.  I did not do pictures for a full tutorial.  I was into just enjoying the project with Sweet Lily Girl then just wanted to get it done when I heard Little Miss Ava Grace waking up from her nap.  One year olds and hot glue guns do not mix.

One picture I did take was this one.  It does not have great coloring but I did want to note that this is how much space I left around Sweet Lily Girls hand.  After doing a blanket stitch around the outside of the two layers i found that it was a little more snug than desired.  I would suggest leaving more space.

I cut out all pieces before sewing or gluing anything together.  I had no pattern I just made it up as I went and had to re cut several pieces but I think they turned out really cute.

I hand stitched the two layers of white together with a blanket stitch.  Click here for a clear tutorial on how to do a blanket stitch.  Then used a hot glue gun to add the dresses, hair, crown and accessories.

"Hi. How are you today?"

We have been having so much fun with our puppets and theater.  If you ever have big enough box I highly recommend this project for you and your little one(s).

The Fox Theater

I grew up not far from Detroit, Michigan.  There is not a whole lot from that city that I would be interested in sharing here.  But while we were making our very own Fox Theater I couldn't help but laugh at the comparison to the "real" Fox Theater.

Our Fox Theater

The "Original"

Ours I think is just as GRAND don't you think?

For this project I decided to set aside my desire for things to be "beautiful" and looking how I picture in my mind.  This is a struggle for me but I find that I end up being the one doing the project as my sweet girls stand by bored watching me have all the fun. I wanted the girls to have a great time with this project and they did.  They helped with every step except using the utility knife.  I thought we'd wait a year or two or several before we turn them loose with sharp blades.

The box came from a foam mattress that we recently purchased.  Did you know they can ship a queen sized mattress in a box?  I didn't.  It was vacuum packed in plastic put in a card board "sleeve" and slid into another box.  All this packing = future crafting fun.  On delivery day I was excited for both the new mattress and the potential projects.

After the cutting process was done we did a base coat with a quart of "oops paint" that I picked up over a year ago.  I did not get pictures of this part of the process.  We were all a little to messy for me to think about touching my camera.

Next step.  The fun painting:

I let the girls choose the fabric for the curtains as well.  Sweet Lily Girl insisted that it must have flowers on it.  I didn't do anything with it besides cut it with pinking shears and duct tape it to the back.  Knowing that this is made from cardboard and that it's life span will probably not be very long I did not want to put more work into it than it is "worth".

We also made puppets.  More to come on that soon!

Mini Bunting

This is the window ledge in my kitchen over my sink.

I like a little whimsy

I also like variety.  I have a bunch of these "Mini Bunting" Strands.  I change them out according to my mood.  They are super easy and cheap and add just a little bit of fun to a room. They can be put in plants like I have done hear.  Or on the corner of a mirror or picture frame.  On a cake or any where else you imagination can come up with.

This particular strand of Mini Bunting is made from a small scrap of Toile fabric that I got from who knows where.  I cut 1 1/2" x 2" triangles with straight scissors across the top and pinking shears for the other two sides.  Then I simply sewed them together leaving plenty of thread at each end to tie them off.  I bought a pack of skewers from Wal-Mart, they cost $ .97 for a pack of 100.  So all in all this little bit of whimsy in my kitchen cost me about $ .03 figuring in the thread.  I think that could fit into any budget.



There's A Chandelier Here Somewhere... I Can Smell It!

Earlier today Sweet Lily Girl was looking for her "blankie".  Yes, she has one of THOSE.  She calls it her "pink blankie" as if she didn't have at least 6 other pink blankets.  She was walking around starting to get a little frustrated and said "Where is my blankie? I can smell it around here somewhere!"  It cracked me up and I'm still laughing about it.  I think I might use the phrase randomly from now on.  "Where are my keys? I can smell them around here somewhere." or "There is a pen on my desk somewhere I can smell it" or "Gabe must be home I can smell him."  Well maybe not the last one. Except he does where some great cologne.  (You're welcome for that great gift I bought myself you honey!)

Here is a picture of Lily when her "Pink Blankie" was still pretty.

Doesn't it look so soft and shinny and a pretty soft pink color?  I'm not showing you a picture of it now almost 4 years later.  Those of you moms that have kids with "blankies" I'm sure you understand.  For the rest of you lets just say it's not all those previously listed things anymore and the only reason it doesn't stink is that I wash it in baking soda on a regular basis. (Thanks Brooke for the tip.)

So ANYWAY....

I've been working to get everything ready ahead of time for the girls birthday party in October and I want to make a faux chandelier.  I got everything out that might possibly be usable to inspire myself and take a picture to share with you all of course.  While I was looking at this picture I took earlier today I thought: "There is a chandelier in here somewhere....I can smell it." 

Somewhere in all of this is a chandelier just waiting to be created.  I've been inspired elsewhere too.  Check these out:

from http://www.gusandlula.com/2010/08/beaded-chandelier-tutorial.html

from http://livingwithlindsay.com/2010/05/pottery-barn-knock-off-tutorial-ribbon-and-bird-chandelier.html

from http://brassyapple.blogspot.com/2010/05/diy-chandeliertutorial.html

Each one is amazing, inspiring and even shares easy to follow tutorial but not exactly what is floating around in my head.  I'm hoping I can get that image out into reality.  I'll share pictures here if I can!

Crinoline Slip "How To"

My mom has offered to make princess dresses for the two little princesses upcoming birthday party.  It's not until October, but hey I hate to be rushed and to be perfectly honest, I really, really like planning parties.  In order to make my mom's project easier I decided to make crinoline slips to go under the dresses so she didn't have to add layers of poof to the dresses themselves.

Okay so here is a basic how to for a crinoline slip for little girls.  I did not find a very good tutorial online so I had to figure it out myself.  I had some issues but it all worked out in the end.  The first one is not pretty but it will work.  The second one turned out great.  I'll tell you what I did for the second and spare you the disaster of the first.

The "second" on a very cute and suprisingly cooperative model:

Side Note:  I learned how to use the timer on my camera today.  

I happened to still have left over white fabric from my wedding 5 years ago so I used that.  You could use any light weight fabric.  A couple of weeks ago my friend Carrie gave me some spools of white tulle that she did not want anymore.  So for me the cost of this project was $0.00. Hoot, Hoot, Hooray!!! Thanks for thinking of me Carrie!  However if you do not have the supplies on hand I would estimate the cost of this project to be about $15 if you had to pay full price for everything including fabric, tulle, elastic & thread.

What you need:

*1 yrd light weight fabric
*approximately 40 yards of 6" wide tulle (you can use a spool or yardage can be cut into 6" strips)
*elastic (I used 3/4" because it's what I had on hand)
*coordinating thread

Note: I will give the measurements I used for the slip I made Ava Grace.  She wears size 2T, length can easily be added to make it longer for a larger child.  The length of the elastic for the waist band determines how big around.

First Step is to make the underskirt.  I know my girls don't like anything itchy so I didn't want the tulle to touch their skin.

Cut 2 rectangles from your fabric 32" x 12" sew the two rectangles together along the 12" sides. 

Then to create the waist, fold over and press one of the 32" sides 1/4" then 1" to create a pocket for the elastic.

Sew all the way around leaving a big enough opening for the size of your elastic to be fed through.  Note: Do not feed your elastic through until you have sewn on the rows of tulle.  I made this mistake and it is very difficult to sew the tulle onto fabric that is gathered.

Cut the bottom edge with pinking shears or turn up with a hem.  I chose to use pinking shears.

Next step is dealing with all that tulle.  I made 3 rows of poof.

Cut 6 strips approximately 230" or 19' long.  I laid a yard stick in front of myself and measured out approximately 30 inches at a time feeding the tulle through my hands.  It seems like a lot of tulle but gathering all that length makes for a nice and poofy skirt.

For the top row I used a single layer of tulle.  Sew with a baisting stitch along the length of one side about a 1/2" from the edge.  Pull the bobbin (bottom) thread to gather so that it ends up about 64" long.  Pin to the skirt about and inch below the waist band. Then sew gathered tulle to the skirt along baisting stitch.

For the 2nd row I sewed  two strips of tulle with the baisting stitch, gathered and sewed to the skirt in the same way.  Over lapping with the row above by about 2".

For the 3rd row I sewed three strips of tulle with the baisting stitch, gathered and sewed to the skirt in the same way.  Over lapping with the row above by about 2".

I have a remaining space at the bottom of the under skirt.  I did this intensionally waiting for the exact length of the skirt of the dress my mom is making.  I may need to add a 4th row or trim of a couple of inches.

The last step is to add the elastic.  The length of your elastic should go around your childs waist and over lap 1".  Put a safety pin in one end and feed it through the waist band.  Be sure not to let the other end of the elastic go inside the "pocket" or you will need to start over or try to "fish it out".  Be careful not to twist the elastic, then overlap the ends and sew together and spread out the gathered fabric evenly.

I look forward to seeing the pretty pink princess dresses that will be covering these poofy things up. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!!!!!!!